Guinea: 40,000 relocated since February

UNHCR has relocated more than 40,000 refugees from the troubled south-western region of Guinea since the beginning of a relocation movement in early February. This figure includes some 4,500 refugees who have been evacuated since the relocation was stepped up last week from Kolomba camp. Kolomba was the biggest refugee camp in the region and the closest to the Sierra Leone border, in the so-called Parrot's Beak area. The numbers recently moving out of Kolomba have been lower than expected, indicating that many refugees have found their own way out of the isolated territory. Many left earlier on foot, pushed out by repeated fighting and insecurity over the past few months. Since February, UNHCR has transported thousands of people who had made their own way to several camps along the edges of the Parrot's Beak to new sites further inland. Small numbers of people fleeing the Parrot's Beak region continue to make their own way out, in addition to UNHCR-organized evacuation convoys. In the past three days, for example, 89 arrived on foot in Katkama camp, north of Guéckédou. The UNHCR evacuation will continue next week from other camps in the Parrot's Beak. The evacuees are being taken to six new sites in the northern Prefectures of Albadariah and Dabola. They have a total capacity of 100,000.